Survivor Series 2007
Survivor Series 2007 was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), which took place on November 18, 2007 at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. It was presented by THQ's WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008. It was the 21st annual Survivor Series and starred wrestlers from the Raw, SmackDown!, and ECW brands. The show's seven matches showcased prominent WWE wrestlers, who acted out the franchise's stories in and out of the ring. The main event featured SmackDown wrestlers in a Hell in a Cell match, in which the ring was surrounded by a roofed steel structure. In this match, World Heavyweight Champion Batista defeated The Undertaker to retain his title. In Raw's main match, Randy Orton defeated Shawn Michaels in a singles match, while in ECW's prime match, ECW Champion CM Punk defeated John Morrison and The Miz in a Triple Threat match to retain the title. Two matches were on the undercard. The first was a singles match, in which The Great Khali defeated Hornswoggle. The other featured Team Triple H (Triple H, Jeff Hardy, Rey Mysterio and Kane) defeating Team Umaga (Umaga, Mr. Kennedy, Montel Vontavious Porter, Finlay and Big Daddy V) in an inter-brand five-on-four Survivor Series elimination tag team match. Survivor Series helped WWE increase its pay-per-view revenue by $1.2 million, through ticket sales and pay-per-view buys. It received mixed critical reviews by various independent sources, including Canadian Online Explorer and the Pro Wrestling Torch. After its release on DVD, the event peaked at number five on Billboard's Video Sales chart, before it fell off the chart after ten weeks. Background Survivor Series was the culmination of various scripted plots and storylines. For three months before the event, several professional wrestling matches and scripted plots were played out on WWE programming (Raw, Friday Night SmackDown!, and ECW on Sci Fi) to create feuds between various wrestlers, casting them as villains and heroes.10 Raw, SmackDown!, and ECW were also the names of WWE's televised brands – a storyline division in which WWE assigned its employees to a specific program, thus each brand promoted distinct matches.11 The main narrative for Survivor Series from the SmackDown brand continues the events that unfolded at WrestleMania 23, WWE's April pay-per-view, in which The Undertaker defeated Batista for the World Heavyweight Championship. Over the course of several months, the two wrestlers fought in various matches over the title, which eventually involved Edge. The Undertaker was billed as having been injured in one of these matches in May, in which Edge had won the title. During The Undertaker's absence, Edge was legitimately injured, and The Great Khali won the championship in a Battle Royal, in which wrestlers were eliminated until one remained as the winner. At Unforgiven, WWE's September pay-per-view event, The Undertaker returned to WWE, while Batista won the World Heavyweight Title from The Great Khali. Afterwards, the original feud between the two wrestlers was restarted and culminated into a standard wrestling match, known in professional wrestling as a singles match, at WWE's October pay-per-view event Cyber Sunday; Batista won this match and retained his title. On the November 2, 2007 episode of Friday Night SmackDown!, a rematch was advertised in a Hell in a Cell match, in which both wrestlers would fight in a ring surrounded by a roofed steel structure at Survivor Series. The prime rivalry scripted from the Raw brand continued a storyline that extended from Cyber Sunday, between WWE Champion Randy Orton and Shawn Michaels over Orton's title. At Cyber Sunday, Michaels was chosen by the WWE fans, via online voting, to face Orton for the title, though, Orton retained his title via disqualification. A rematch was promoted for Survivor Series on the October 29, 2007 edition of Raw, in which Michaels would face Orton for his title. Afterwards, Michaels and Orton fought in different match types over the weeks leading to Survivor Series. On the episode of Raw before Survivor Series, Michaels and Orton met "Face to Face" in a scripted confrontation, in which Orton attacked Michaels. The prime storyline on the ECW brand featured ECW Champion CM Punk, John Morrison, and The Miz. Morrison and Punk's rivalry revolved over the outcome of their match at Vengeance: Night of Champions, WWE's June pay-per-view event, in which Morrison defeated Punk to win the ECW Title.22 Punk sought revenge, but Morrison defeated Punk in two championship matches; however, Punk won the title from Morrison on the September 4, 2007 episode of ECW on Sci fi. At Cyber Sunday, The Miz was voted online by fans to challenge Punk for the ECW Title, though, Punk defeated Miz to retain his title. A Triple Threat match was announced for Survivor Series on the November 13, 2007 episode of ECW on Sci-Fi, in which Punk would defend his title against Morrison and Miz, and the first wrestler to gain a pinfall or submission would win the match and the title. In a narrative extending to the September 10, 2007 episode of Raw, in which Hornswoggle, a dwarf, was announced as Vince McMahon's illegitimate son. In this storyline, McMahon did not like the fact that Hornswoggle was his son, and as a result, he promoted matches in which Hornswoggle faced much larger opponents. As part of this storyline, McMahon announced that The Great Khali, who was billed as standing at 7 feet 4 inches (2.24 m), would face Hornswoggle at Survivor Series. In a promotional in-ring segment on the episode of Friday Night SmackDown! before the pay-per-view event, Khali and Hornswoggle weighed in for their match, in which Khali weighed double the weight of Hornswoggle; this was a segment created by McMahon to humiliate his son. The event included an inter-brand 5-on-5 Survivor Series elimination tag team match. Announced via WWE.com, WWE's official website, Team Triple H (Triple H, The Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff), Rey Mysterio, and Kane) would face Team Umaga (Umaga, Montel Vontavious Porter(MVP), Finlay, Big Daddy V, and Mr. Kennedy). A 10 Diva tag team match was also announced for Survivor Series. Mickie James, Kelly Kelly, Maria, Michelle McCool and Torrie Wilson will team up against WWE Women's Champion Beth Phoenix, Melina, Jillian Hall, Layla El and Victoria. Aftermath After Survivor Series, Randy Orton was scripted into a feud with Chris Jericho, who made his return to WWE after a two-year hiatus. The following night on Raw, the evolving feud culminated into a match being promoted for Armageddon, WWE's December pay-per-view. At Armageddon, Orton retained his WWE Title. After Batista retained his World Heavyweight Championship, Edge was scripted into a rivalry with him over his title. Eventually, The Undertaker was also placed in feud, which led to the advertising of a Triple Threat match at Armageddon for the title. At Armageddon, Edge won the World Heavyweight Championship. Due to the events that occurred at Survivor Series, a match was announced between Finlay and The Great Khali for Armageddon. Finlay prevailed at Armageddon via pinning The Great Khali. After remaining as the sole survivors in their Elimination tag team match, Triple H and Jeff Hardy were promoted into a match for Armageddon, in which the winner would win the opportunity to challenge for the WWE Championship. At Armageddon, Hardy defeated Triple H. Because Beth Phoenix and Mickie James were the leaders of their teams at Survivor Series, a feud evolved from this, which culminated into a match at Armageddon over Phoenix's WWE Women's Championship. Phoenix retained her title at Armageddon. Results ; ; *CM Punk © defeated John Morrison and The Miz in a Triple Threat Match to retain the ECW Championship. (7:56) *Mickie James, Maria, Michelle McCool, Kelly Kelly & Torrie Wilson defeated Beth Phoenix, Jillian Hall, Layla El, Melina & Victoria. (4:38) *Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch © defeated Hardcore Holly and Cody Rhodes to retain the World Tag Team Championship. (7:56) *Team Triple H (Triple H, Jeff Hardy, Rey Mysterio and Kane) defeated Team Umaga (Umaga, Mr. Kennedy, Montel Vontavious Porter, Finlay, and Big Daddy V) (w/ Matt Striker) in a Five on Four Traditional Survivor Series Match. (22:16) *The Great Khali (w/ Ranjin Singh) defeated Hornswoggle by disqualification (3:16) *Randy Orton © defeated Shawn Michaels to retain the WWE Championship (17:47) *Batista © defeated The Undertaker in a Hell in a Cell Match to retain the World Heavyweight Championship (21:23) Survivor Series Elimination Matches Other on-screen talent See also *List of WWE pay-per-view events *WWE Event History *Survivor Series DVD Release * Survivor Series 2007 on DVD External links * History of Survivor Series on WWE.com * Survivor Series 2007 at CAGEMATCH.net * Survivor Series 2007 at Online World of Wrestling * on WWE Network Category:Events with Hell in a Cell matches Category:World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-view events Category:Survivor Series Category:2007 pay-per-view events